Monday, June 18, 2012

TAMPA – The University of South Florida men’s basketball team will host nine non-conference opponents while facing a challenging road schedule in 2012-13 highlighted by a trip to Oklahoma State. The Bulls, who played at three different arenas while the Sun Dome was undergoing renovations during the 2011-12 season, will open the building with a match-up against future BIG EAST opponent UCF on Nov. 10.

“This is possibly one of our best non-conference schedules especially when you look at the amount of attractive home games on the schedule,” said head coach Stan Heath. “Our fans are going to get a great chance to see exciting basketball games during the non-conference slate heading into conference play. The schools we’ll face will certainly prepare us for our BIG EAST season especially when you look at what Oklahoma State, UCF, Georgia, George Mason and the rest of the field bring to the table.”

Following the opener against the Knights, USF will host a three-game tournament Nov. 16-18 facing Maryland Eastern Shore, Western Michigan and Loyola-Chicago. The Bulls round out a five-game home-stand to open the season as they face Bradley on Nov. 20.

USF then heads to Stetson on Nov. 26 before coming back to the Sun Dome to face the Georgia Bulldogs on Nov. 30 as part of the BIG EAST-SEC Challenge. The Bulls take their second road trip of the year when they head to Stillwater to face Oklahoma State on Dec. 5.

Three home games vs. Youngstown State (Dec.18), Bowling Green (Dec. 21) and George Mason (Dec. 29) followed by a rematch at UCF (Jan. 2) rounds out the Bulls’ non-conference slate.

Game times along with the Big East schedule will be announced at a later date.